Our research has identified five drivers of organizational effectiveness. The leaders of high-performing companies connect marketing to the business strategy and to the rest of the organization; inspire their organizations by engaging all levels with the brand purpose; focus their people on a few key priorities; organize agile, cross-functional teams; and build the internal capabilities needed for success.

We’re glad the actress and her political-activist fiancé didn’t elope as originally planned – because then she and Montilio’s Baking Company of Boston would never have designed this gorgeous four-tiered cake! Feeding about 250 guests, including Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Larry David, who attended the couple’s August 2 nuptials at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, the pale pink confection featured white cake with white buttercream and hand-painted blue flowers etched in gold.
Jeremy and Anne met while working for Thomas Keller at Bouchon Bakery in the Napa Valley, California and have been baking together ever since. They honed their skills in different kitchens around the San Francisco Bay Area before moving to San Antonio in the summer of 2010. In 2011 they met entrepreneur Charlie Biedenharn who joined them in forming Bakery Lorraine.
Finally, promotion refers to the integrated marketing communications campaign. Promotional activities may include advertising, personal selling, sales promotions, public relations, direct marketing, sponsorship and guerrilla marketing. Promotions are likely to vary depending on what stage of product life cycle the product is in. Marketers must know consumers associate a product’s price and distribution with its quality, and would be prudent to take this into account when devising the overall marketing strategy.
Roses say romance, and that’s exactly what McCarthy and Wahlberg wanted the cake served at their August 31 wedding celebration near Chicago to convey. Covered with 12 dozen cascading red roses that started at the top and wound their way around, the six-tiered, white buttercream cake was a collaborative effort by the couple and baker Alain Roby of All Chocolate Kitchen. The cake was made with alternating layers of red velvet, vanilla custard creme brûlée and Roby’s famous devil’s food cake (a special request from the couple). And those amazing roses? They were made of sugar and edible!
"Place" in The Four P's of marketing refers to how and where products are sold. Consumer product companies, for example, sell to wholesalers who, in turn, sell to retailers. In the industrial market, the buying process is longer and involves more decision makers. Some companies also sell products or services on a local level, while others sell nationally and even internationally. Some companies only sell their products or services online. All distribution decisions are part of the overall marketing process.

Read Joe Pulizzi's excellent book Epic Content Marketing. I started reading it after I wrote this post and it confirmed and expanded what I already knew about content marketing, with much more detail than I could ever go into here. Something Pulizzi emphasizes which I originally left out was the importance of focusing on producing mobile-friendly content, since smartphones are becoming the dominant way in which most of our customers access content. Also read Michael Hyatt's Platform, mentioned above. Frequent websites like those of Content Marketing Institute, Ragan, Copyblogger, Michael Hyatt, and Gary Vaynerchuk and sign up for their email newsletters. It won't take you long to become not just familiar with content marketing, but an expert.

Other recent studies on the "power of social influence" include an "artificial music market in which some 14,000 people downloaded previously unknown songs" (Columbia University, New York); a Japanese chain of convenience stores which orders its products based on "sales data from department stores and research companies;" a Massachusetts company exploiting knowledge of social networking to improve sales; and online retailers who are increasingly informing consumers about "which products are popular with like-minded consumers" (e.g., Amazon, eBay).
Companies are increasingly enhancing the value of their products by creating customer experiences. Some deepen the customer relationship by leveraging what they know about a given customer to personalize offerings. Others focus on the breadth of the relationship by adding touchpoints. Our research shows that high-performing brands do both—providing what we call “total experience.” In fact, we believe that the most important marketing metric will soon change from “share of wallet” or “share of voice” to “share of experience.”
Marketing research is the function that links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer through information--information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve understanding of marketing as a process. Marketing research specifies the information required to address these issues, designs the method for collecting information, manages and implements the data collection process, analyzes the results, and communicates the findings and their implications. (Approved October 2004)
Marketing is defined by the American Marketing Association as "the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large."[4] The term developed from the original meaning which referred literally to going to market with goods for sale. From a sales process engineering perspective, marketing is "a set of processes that are interconnected and interdependent with other functions" of a business aimed at achieving customer interest and satisfaction.[5]
When the Dancing With the Stars judge was deciding on a wedding cake for her July nuptials to the NHL star, she pictured a “simple, elegant design,” cake decorator Kayla Carey told PEOPLE of the dessert covered with all-white buttercream frosting and embellished with a cascade of fresh flowers. “As far as flavors go, Julianne lives a pretty healthy lifestyle and didn’t want anything too heavy,” said Carey. “Each tier was four layers of cake with a layer of strawberries and cream, a layer of blackberries and cream and a layer of raspberries and cream.”
“When one of the brides is a WNBA star you need a tall cake!!” Betsy Thorleifson, the baker behind Nine Cakes in Brooklyn, wrote of the 11-tier dessert she created for Donne and the Olympian’s big day. During the reception, which was put on by The Knot’s Dream Wedding franchise, the wedding cake standing at 6’5″ tall (the same height as Donne!) was wheeled onto the dance floor.
Mutually beneficial exchange: In a transaction in the market economy, a firm gains revenue, which thus leads to more profits/market share/sales. A consumer on the other hand gains the satisfaction of a need/want, utility, reliability and value for money from the purchase of a product or service. As no-one has to buy goods from any one supplier in the market economy, firms must entice consumers to buy goods with contemporary marketing ideals.
When in New Paltz, don't miss a trip to The Bakery. Residents consider The Bakery, with its rustic outdoor cafe and beautiful gardens, to be the center of social life in New Paltz, a place to meet people, bump into old friends, or sit quietly and read the papers. Known since 1981 for great bagels, croissants, rolls, rugulah, danish and butter cookies, The Bakery includes a coffee bar and full lunch menu. Experience New Paltz! Visit The Bakery.